The Congress of the People’s Progressive Party, few and far between, is taking place this weekend in the elevated ambience of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Turkeyen, Georgetown. It is the largest in PPP’s history, attended by 3,000 delegates and observers. The number of delegates has not been revealed, so it is impossible to calculate the membership of the PPP, which has always been proportionately low in comparison to its support, and secret. The reasons for this occurred from the early 1970s when membership rules were tightened to create a more disciplined party to contend with its changing nature and the intensification of authoritarian rule. If the same rule of one delegate to three members apply, then a publication of the number of delegates would indicate the size of its membership.
The three important issues that are likely to dominate the Congress are economic progress in Guyana, changing of the Party rules and elections to the Central Committee. As regards the latter, there will be obsessive/compulsive attention paid to the persons elected and how many votes each obtains. Of particular interest would be the votes obtained by President Irfaan Ali as compared to those obtained by Vice President and General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo. The two individuals are not likely to be in any personal competition. The President is likely to get the higher number of votes than the popular Vice President, and I doubt that they expect otherwise or will be concerned about this outcome. But there is always speculation within the ranks of the delegates and observers, and the public.
